5 Minutes for Business: Canada’s Budget Surplus as the Holy Grail

Every other week, we release 5 Minutes for Business, a publication written by Hendrik Brakel, our Senior Director of Economic, Financial and Tax Policy. In these publications, Hendrik briefly describes current issues that affect the Canadian economy and provides insight on what it will mean for Canadians today and the future. In this week’s edition, he looks at the real importance of a budgetary surplus on the economy.

Never in Canadian history has such an issue of public finance so dominated the election campaign. Even before the government announced a $1.9-billion surplus for 2014-2015, each party was using the issue as a powerful symbol of economic responsibility. How important is it really to have a budget surplus? What impact will it have on the economy?

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